Author: Wang Lingfang

Recently, GAC Aion has been very active, with each event becoming a hot topic.

On August 30th, it announced black technologies, such as the double-speed fast-charging battery technology and the A480 supercharging pile, and released the mixed ownership reform plan on the same day.

Correspondingly, its sales performance has also been outstanding. According to official data, AION family’s terminal sales reached 11,631 units in August, a year-on-year increase of 115%, and it has sold over 10,000 units for four consecutive months.

However, many people are concerned about the safety of super-fast charging, and some believe that GAC’s mixed ownership reform is aimed at financing. In addition, there are controversies regarding the proportion of B-end users in Aion’s sales, the waiting time for users to receive the cars after ordering, and other issues.

On September 5th, at the 17th China International Forum on the Development of the Automobile Industry (Teda), Gu Huinan, the General Manager of GAC Aion New Energy Vehicle Co., Ltd., accepted an interview with the media to explain the purpose of the mixed ownership reform and respond to controversies over the B-end market, waiting times for car delivery, and supercharging.

Gu Huinan said that the purpose of the mixed ownership reform is to stimulate innovation and improve efficiency. Sales to the B-end market do not lower the brand but are instead a recognition from consumers. The waiting time for car delivery caused by production capacity bottlenecks will be improved next year. In addition, high-voltage fast charging is also a direction, and product technology is not a problem. Costs will also decrease with scale.

Why undergo mixed Ownership Reform

Gu Huinan first made it clear that Aion’s mixed ownership reform is not due to a lack of money but rather hopes to use capital to improve the brand and retain talent and stimulate creativity through employee stock ownership.

Gu Huinan explained that there are two backgrounds for mixed ownership reform.

First, capital plays a very important role in driving development.

Gu Huinan believes that during the “Thirteenth Five-Year Plan” period, the development of new energy vehicles relied on the guidance of national policies, the driving force of capital, and the development of technology. “Basically, new forces rely on capital support. If there is no capital, it will be difficult for new forces to enter this industry. This is a driving background.”

In Gu Huinan’s view, the capital market not only drives, but also influences the development of this industry. “Now, the public feels that brands driven by capital represent the future direction and have more strength. Everyone knows that capital will invest a lot of effort to constantly speak up, making young people fall in love with these struggling enterprises. This entrepreneurial spirit moves them. These backgrounds prompt us to consider the impact of the capital market.”

GAC Aion is not short of money, but it also needs to compete in the capital market and “let everyone see our spirit, and we also hope to use this to improve our brand.”

Secondly, it is necessary to change the institutional mechanisms. As we all know, the institutional mechanisms of state-owned enterprises are relatively rigid. After the mixed ownership reform, they will definitely be relatively flexible, which will be beneficial to improving efficiency.Geely 和安凯等伙伴提供部分动力传动系统。这一局面直到明年初才会得到改善，届时 AION Y 和 AION V 的提车周期会进一步缩短。

此外，古惠南透露，埃安正在扩建新工厂，未来产能将有很大提升。

古惠南表示，埃安致力于打造高品质电动车，每一位消费者都应该能够体验到好的产品和服务。Joint venture brands such as GAC Honda, GAC Toyota, and GAC Mitsubishi have secured a certain amount of production capacity. “Last month, the announced production capacity was 18,000 vehicles, but in fact, orders reaching 20,000 is not a problem. However, we cannot accept too many orders at the moment because keeping customers waiting for too long will harm their interests.”

From the Shangxianshu data, it is also evident that the Aion series has shown significant growth this year, particularly the AION Y/V models.

However, Gu Huinan mentioned that the market is currently good, and Aion is adding equipment. “By next spring, we will have production capacity of 200,000 vehicles, but in these past few months, production capacity has indeed been tight. Apart from the chip situation, the main reason is that the factory lacks production capacity.”

In fact, Aion’s total planned production capacity for the factory is 400,000 vehicles per year, with initial production capacity of 200,000 vehicles per year. Prior to this, based on the principle of “small input, quick output, and rolling development,” the factory only utilized a production capacity of 100,000 vehicles.

This production capacity has already limited Aion’s development. Gu Huinan stated that GAC Aion’s current production capacity utilization rate has exceeded 140%. They are currently working four hours of overtime every day for production, with two shifts of four hours of production each day, which is equivalent to 20 hours per day. In addition, the two shifts need one hour of rest, so there are 22 hours in total. In reality, the remaining time is used for maintenance and upkeep, meaning they are using all 24 hours.

High Voltage Platform, but Holding Back Development

In addition to increasing production capacity, Aion is continuously iterating on the technological level, with its recent releases of double-speed battery technology and a 480 kW ultra-fast charging station, both aimed at improving energy replenishment efficiency.

In Gu Huinan’s view, high voltage and high power charging facilities are the development direction. “After solving the problem of driving range for electric vehicles in the future, people will certainly pursue speed. Human nature is such that they always desire stronger, higher, and faster, so everyone will definitely want to experience faster charging. Therefore, high voltage is a given, and Aion will also move in this direction.”

After high voltage, batteries, motors, control systems, and related components also need to be correspondingly upgraded to high voltage. According to Gu Huinan, this technology is already quite mature, but it will increase some costs. However, if the volume increases, costs will decrease as well.

In terms of vehicle models, Aion will move towards high voltage, but this pace will be based on market demand. If they move too quickly, the infrastructure cannot keep up, resulting in waste. Furthermore, after high voltage, if charging is conducted at low voltage, it will cause incomplete charging and poor charging efficiency, so the pace cannot be too fast.

Recently, Aion has continuously released good news on product sales, production capacity, and technological levels in order to give confidence to the capital market. With mixed ownership reform officially on the agenda, it is believed that the day of its listing is getting closer and closer.

This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.